§ Mr. GrieveTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor"s Department how many warrants in respect of breach of community court orders have been outstanding for(a) less than 12 months, (b) 12 months to two years, (c) two to three years, (d) three to four years, (e) four to five years and (f) five years or more. [42792]
§ Mr. WillsLead responsibility for execution of community penalty breach warrants was transferred from the police to Magistrates Courts Committees on 1 April 2001. Prior to the transfer, statistics on community penalty breach warrants were not routinely kept. LCD is414W now collecting data but complete figures are not yet available. Of the community penalty breach warrants issued since the transfer, 10,034 were outstanding as at 28 December 2001.
As a result of the transfer, the courts now control the whole enforcement process and can give the work higher priority. From April 2002, the courts will be given almost £10 million extra—ring-fenced for enforcement. I have also announced challenging performance targets for next year which will highlight performance on community penalty breach warrants.